Dark Days Challenge Week 8: Sweets in the West!

I think we lost a few Challenge participants to the weather–half of us are digging out of a blizzard and the other half are outside enjoying our missing winter, instead of being in the kitchen, maybe? This week’s challenge in a Challenge was sweets– if you didn’t get your link to your recapper, please put it in the comments! I can feel my sweet tooth gearing up!

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She may be  Blogging Reluctantly, but the Reluctant Blogger sure posted a lot of delicious meals in the past few weeks! While cleaning out her freezer (i suffer from the same ‘buy food even when there’s food at home’ ailment) she dug out some ground elk for tasty looking burgers, found some hidden shrimp (i didn’t know we had local shrimp in the Northwest!), and even delved into sampling some very local fare during a visit to Nicaragua. I’m jealous!

Methylgrace was up for our Dessert Challenge! She had a special event to bake for: her son’s second birthday! She made not one, but two sweets including a little frosting topped shortbread featuring all SOLE ingredients. Although she made the shortbread to help and accommodate a child with allergies, it sounds good enough to make ever weekend to me!

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While I do understand gardening and the Dark Days, I apparently don’t understand gmail, because I missed Backyard Farm’s entry for last week! She shared a family favorite (and her family sounds as crazy as my Greek-Chinese-Polish-Hungarian-Swedish-Irish one). This week, in addition to trying her hand at cheese, and replacing some kitchen tools, she has a very useful guide to homemade medicinal potions and teas, something near and dear to us here at NDiN. (We are mad for homemade potions!)

Woohoo Tofu started in on her Valentine’s Treats for our next challenge–Honey Vanilla Ice Cream! Be sure to check out her One Pot to Four Courses post and the problems of Menu Planning, something that everyone runs up against when they start to really commit to local.

MNLocavore comes through, as always, with maple sugar candy (my favorite). And she has some more-than-usually charming pictures of them!  She also hit the motherlode by finding a locally-sourced bread mix! “Prepared” foods are a dilemma for people committed to local food, for those days when you really really really don’t want to have to cook. I’ve gotten used to not being able to indulge in just bringing home a prepared meal, or using a mix, but there are days when I really miss the convenience (and there’s a First World Problem if I ever heard one!)

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Jennifer here, from Unearthing this Life. My Midwest group is keeping it local with some really tempting recipes – as usual! The Local Cook prepared a beef stew à la française. Using The Joy of Cooking (1997), she’s recreated a traditional meal while introducing a wonderful alternative to stewing potatoes. She served her Boeuf Bourguignonne over baked potatoes!

This week Dog Hill Kitchen has convinced me to give turnips another try. How can you not after looking at this lovely sunny side up egg with Smoked Paprika Turnips and Kale. Kale is my favorite cold weather green, and it most certainly will always be complimented with eggs of any sort – especially with a little heat!

Kirsten from Small Wonder Farm sounds deeply satisfied with her results preparing Barbecue Shortribs, complete with her own barbecue sauce. Her recipe includes homemade ketchup and maple syrup. Just like Kirsten, I fell in love with the versatility that homemade ketchup offers. I imagine it helped to make an amazing sauce for her pork ribs! (I’m also jealous of her homegrown, fresh spinach!) She’s also got a tasty dessert for her Valentine’s Day challenge: Meringues! Living with several different food allergies in her house, Kirsten had to come up with a sweet treat that didn’t have corn, soy, dairy, or gluten! I think she did a gorgeous job!

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Sage the Flowerweaver here to tell you we had several West group participants step up to the Challenge within the Challenge and craft some mouth-watering sweets in time for Valentines!

Julie at D.I. Wine and Dine prepared a sweet Valentine treat of Maple Caramel Corn from local corn and honey. What a great treat to share with others. Although her maple syrup wasn’t local, it was harvested from some friends’ backyard, so that’s very cool!

Teresa at Not From a Box lamented she would have to eliminate chocolate and romantic fruits (I feel your pain!) in her concoction. Since local apples are plentiful in her area, she made a Baked Apple Sorbet from Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams at Home. She admits it really just tasted like frozen applesauce–delicious, but not fulfilling her idea of an ideal, decadent Valentine’s Day dessert. It certainly looks pretty!

Becky at My Kitchen Solo is celebrating with a Honey Ricotta Cheesecake Pie, for which she kindly shares the recipe. She says the greatest part of the recipe is that it’s entirely made in the food processor. Her presentation with a strawberry heart is just magnificent!

Rick over at Stoney Acres made 100% local French Toast with strawberries the week before. Nom nom! And this week, a local Turkey Dinner with homemade bread. He gives some tips on cooking a small turkey in a crock pot. I’ve recently rediscovered my own crock pot  (after catching my kitchen on fire!) and it certainly cuts down on the fire risks while blogging, ha ha.

Farmer Rick and I are in the process of some very big projects, and Emily from Sincerely, Emily–one of the Not Dabbling in Normal contributors–who also lives in Texas will be taking my place as the West recapper for the rest of the Dark Days Challenge. I’ll still be around, blogging when I can, just a bit preoccupied. Cook on SOLE troops!